National
Judge dismisses election fraud case in Melilla
By h.b.
Apr 23, 2007 - 6:14 PM

A judge in Instruction Court 3 in Melilla, Julia Andamuz, has ruled that the printing of 1000 counterfeit postal voting forms ahead of the local elections next month by the local PP is not a crime, because ‘there was no malicious intent’.

The PP manager in the enclave, Javier Lence, had been charged with the falsification of a public document.

The judge made her decision despite evidence in the case which showed that Lence made a phone call in panic an hour before the Civil Guard came to his office, calling on the printer to forget his order, saying that he would still pay for it, but wanted no factura or paper trail and that the printed voting forms should be destroyed.

The PP national number two, Angel Acebes, has called on the Socialist party to apologise in the matter; he accuses the Socialists of an organised campaign against the PP.

For their part the Socialists say that individuals will appeal the judge’s decision, given that the Prosecutor has wanted new charges to be made, and because the PP has failed to explain why they wanted the counterfeit voting forms in the first place.

The order to a local printers to make the copies came to light following telephone taps in place at the printers, Marfeme in Melilla, who were meanwhile also under investigation for the falsification of documents and product labels.